the latest news and the week's top stories barack obama's top foreign policy action kicks in quick after soft talk security is control of the white house for another four years. urged by western powers to step down and freezing death threats from the rebels the syrian president exclusively tells our t.v. that he'll stay until he's voted out. new developments out of israel which has fired its first warning shots into syria after a mortar shell hit the north as well as killing six palestinians in retaliation for attacks from gaza. and after some of the most intense austerity clashes in months greece braces for more protests as it decides on a drug called me and twenty thirteen budget.

today's headlines in the top stories from the past seven days you're watching our choose the weekly with me lucy catherine of republicans in the u.s. are licking their wounds after democrats voters put democrat barack obama back in the nation's top job it was a close race that ultimately ended in a clear win over the hard liner mitt romney but obama's soft campaign talk on foreign policy soon transformed into top action and all this even before the election ballots have been counted archie is going to have to can has more. in the wake of president obama's reelection there was no sense of euphoria as in two thousand and eight but his victory did come as a relief to most americans his challenger mitt romney was widely seen as more aggressive especially his foreign policy rhetoric also

a seemingly out of touch with middle class america we are on the american boom with and we rise or fall together that's going to. school. waiting for him right after reelection is the so-called fiscal cliff a combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts all we need is action from the house. and i've got the been right to sign the bill right away. but averting the fiscal cliff is probably not the first issue addressed by the president he also rise the drone strike targeting a group of al qaeda militants in yemen on wednesday the u.n. has raised concerns about the legality of such strikes due to reported heavy civilian casualties on lack of transparency on the u.s. part we're in uncharted waters when it comes to policy american policy related to drones this week the administration imposed financial sanctions against iranian officials so the u.s. planes but jamming satellite broadcasting blocking internet access anywhere and

that comes on top of a whole lot of other sanctions that have been put in place by the u.s. which proved to be crippling for the iranian economy the goal is not to change the iranian government's decision making it's actually leverage ordinary civilians against the iranian government and to threaten to topple the government by inciting you know food riots or you know people who are on happy because they can you know their grandparents are dying and can't get medicine and on friday despite president obama's claims the u.s. should move away from the cold war thinking in relations with russia the white house launched its first permanent military presence on polish soil the issue has been a constant sword in the side of relations between moscow and washington as the u.s. also plans to install missile interceptors in poland but the president every other democrat that i'm aware of is also made it clear that if we leave russia is still opposed to it still sees it as as if we're just going to have to go ahead with the president's actions so far have shown while he may be talking soft he's acting

tough looking as i was president obama's first moves after reelection one could say he puts the idea. of america being the wall police very seriously but the question is who can hold that wall police itself accountable in washington i'm going to check on. a former cia officer has told us that obama needs to break free from the strings being pulled by the right what i would suggest is that he call a press conference what he would say is you know the campaign is over and i found out that i've been grievously misled they told me to say that iran had threatened to wipe israel off the map and i found out that they never said that it's a matter of fact these really deputy prime minister sort of said ok ok they never said that and so my speechwriters are being canned and i'm going to get some new speechwriters the intelligence community keeps telling me that he run has not yet

decided to build a nuclear weapon and so i'm going to get rid of all those folks from brookings other places who are the soft on which the speech saying well you know you still have to worry about this instead of negotiations once these troublesome people have their own agenda are dismissed then he has a square chance of saying look we're going to do a deal with the run just as i said five years ago we're going to talk directly to them and we're not going to let that be sabotaged by either israeli intelligence or is really for sure not ose within the neoconservative camp in washington. she spoke exclusively to the embattled syrian leader and see claims on to power from the heart of the conflict zone bashar al assad rebuffed western calls to step down and also warns that foreign intervention could spark a global disaster that interview in full is available for you on our website r.t. dot com and it is also coming up in just over an hour. but the thing that really

mark me the most is how really how much more complicated situation inside syria is that from what we see in the media because i talk to people yes the country is divided and even the people who didn't like assad before this conflict started are now so scared that fundamentalists will come to power fundamentalists who are fighting on the side of the free syrian army and syrian people are you know about that i mean this is like the only secular our country that had a lot of different religious groups always living in peace with each other whether it's sunni or shia or always or christians so they're really scared that if the army will fall apart and then you know you have this extremist muslims coming to them and asking them to basically be just like them so it's not just about assad i think people feel like whether he goes or stays. it's only can get worse if it goes because it will get i mean the terror attacks will continue and the fundamentalists will come to power so they're very scared of that. that he is not

a western puppet he also denies the fact that civil war is taking place in this country he's saying that it's not civil war it's a conflict where he has to fight different fractions of terrorism. on the fact that the financing of this terrorist fractions was unprecedented and it was coming from abroad he also said that if the west were to intervene militarily it would have a do you know from atlantic to pacific. is going. to be more the whole world came before because if you have a problem if you're going to go the flow through. ability in the region and coexistence. between have the domain or. the pacific. you know because you know. i'm going. to go but. nobody came. thanks but.

i didn't r.t. exclusive friday through sunday on r.t. and r.t. dot com a lot of claims only election is going to terminate his future but it seems that not everyone agrees the free syrian army is media chief says that they want the president's head on a plate that means that it in his statement to your channel he said he would not leave syria we know this very well because he will not be able to leave syria he and his people will not manage to leave the country the free syrian army will not let him do this he will not get out of syria lying he'll be lucky if he meets the same fate as market. right while the leaders of the syrian opposition say that they have signed an initial agreement to form a new umbrella coalition during a conference in qatar where the body has lost support in syria itself after the local coordination committees of activists there disavowed the exiled officials the president of the arab a lawyer association says the foreign backed syrian national council doesn't serve

or represent the revolution. because the only credibility it had was with the western powers we all remember when the us forced many countries to attend a meeting in turkey to recognize this as the legitimate representative of syria which was part of the political gimmick that the u.s. and the western powers nato france britain were following because what they wanted is the change of three g. but this is a unique case whereby there is a true revolution within syria but those who are recognized by the us and others have absolutely nothing to do with it and so most of them have been there and most of them have been out of the country for tens of years and the us knew that and the west knew that but they were still nevertheless recognized as the representative of the people now they have come to realize that actually that evolution is going on in syria there is the there is the people who are revolting in syria and they have

no links with the external. people who are claiming to represent them so i don't think they credibility before i don't think they would have credibility at the present moment because this is an attempt to create a group of you should in whatever division everybody in the west created this something outside and they called it the present that. from a few voting machine glitches to bureaucratic barriers voting was exactly straightforward for some americans but some things have been added off by the united states with accusations that it prefers to scrutinize everyone else's election rather than its own. we report later on. israel's military is in gauged on both its northern and southern frontiers right now the country has fired into syria apparently in a response to a mortar attack on the golan heights and tel aviv is warning of tougher action against militants in gaza this after a surge in salvos from the palestinian territory falsely or has more. early on

sunday afternoon israel fired into syrian territory for the first time since the nine hundred seventy three war i spoke earlier with the israeli defense forces spokesperson unit who did confirm that these warning shots took place he said that they were in response to a mortar shell fall in near any israeli military post in the golan heights now these ladies do not believe that they were the target they do believe that the shell was part of the byproduct of the internal fighting taking place in syria between forces loyal to side and rebel fighters but the army is saying that it won't tolerate more checks from syria that violates the disengagement agreement between israel and syria now there have been several such incidents over the past two weeks just last week three syrian tanks crossed over the demilitarized zone between the two countries alarming israelis and also causing them to raise the alert in the area the idea of has filed

a complaint with the united nations saying that any kind of high image meeting from syria into israel will be responded to also on the southern israeli border we have seen a clear out from violence between the israelis and palestinian militants the latest we heard from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is that his country is ready to strike harder against the gaza strip if it does not stop attacking israel he made these remarks today sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting in which he said and i'm quoting that the world must understand that israel cannot sit idly by while attempts are made to attack it the hostilities along the israel gaza border have is going to choppy particularly this past weekend as follows israeli airstrikes that killed six palestinians four of whom were teenagers and two of whom belonged to the militant group islamic jihad according to the gaza health ministry spokesperson there are a number of people who were injured the biggest stands at around thirty eight including children the problem though is that often in these israeli airstrikes

israel lands up killing civilians and not militants as its intention. it is a must has taken responsibility for this attack they were four israeli soldiers that were wounded in action and response from the palestinian side was dozens of rockets that were fired into southern israel on sunday morning the whole sort of israel is in a state of trying to achieve and this comes of this in your religion is the amount to take the range for these states now few months along the israeli gaza border are quite common and we had seen a lady to flare ups this is not this though is one of the highest casualty counts in gaza in a single incident in recent months there's gritted teeth in greece more protests are planned as parliament prepares to vote for next year's budget as an a comfortable rating for hard pressed citizens but it does need approval for athens to secure a fresh international loan in and out of condition was further wage cuts and tax hikes which nearly squeezed through parliament on thursday but public patients may have long been worn out five years into the crippling slump more than

a quarter of the country is now out of work violence broke out as a moment for small to the latest cuts right place try to secure the parliament building but they faced molotov cocktails and the furious crowds there were over one hundred arrests in those clashes charlie mcgrath has been watching the developments from wide awake news and he says nothing will get the better of athens better in athens until the country admits it's bankrupt. we already have people killing themselves in front of parliament in greece you have people that are losing everything using old that the last thing to go i think is going to be you know their sense that they have anybody representing them with so large whatsoever you have this tyranny of the technocrats majority inside reason hundred fifty three out of three hundred vote more austerity on the people i think it as they continue to lose all hope that they have any control of their own financial destiny whatsoever how can it be anything but you know digress into but potentially civil war but

actually helping the country is not going to change for the better it till they were. if they are in default they're bankrupt and they tell the banks that are holding their debt and the european union and the e.c.b. and the trail but they are going to default this is what happens if you mark out there their prospects for a return to a healthy economy it has to start with their realizing that they are completely and utterly broke and start over from scratch. change at the top in china in the once in a decade power we shuffle can stay with us here on our team as we tell you how the country is on track to become the world's largest economy and the challenges that face us along the way. plus brains reform campaigners face troops and set of talks and their long struggle for a voice and find out what's really driving the crackdown in a few minutes. recently

protests and demonstrations of any kind were banned until further notice and buck rein a curfew as in you can't go out of your home when the government doesn't want you to has already been in effect in the country since two thousand and eleven many of the protests which are now totally forbidden were related to members of the public demanding the release of political prisoners four people were also recently arrested for insulting the king over twitter wow a middle eastern country that has totally shut down any form of protest and hugs you down if you tweet about the leadership so it's pretty undemocratic to me that nato is already fueling up ready to take action bombs and freedom into warmer well not really if nato really cared about spreading democracy you'd think they'd be more consistent with their targets but that's just my opinion.

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around russia we've got this huge area covered. bahrain's largest opposition group says hopes are fading for any breakthrough dialogue the gulf kingdom's deepening crisis witnessed fresh clashes this week with authorities deploying its paramilitary national guard in order to back the police and their battle against the protesters the latest wave of protests began on friday security forces have tear gassed thousands of shiite worshippers who are trying to reach their mosques for prayers a teenager was also killed in a traffic incident during those clashes and there was more violence during his funeral on saturday authorities had banned all public gatherings last week in order to try to quell nearly two years of anti-government actions political analyst patrick henningsen says that western nations are merely helping the monarchy gag

its opposition. if you look at you know william hague and hillary clue. gallivanting around with the friends of syria meetings accusing the assad government of crimes against humanity you only have to look at bahrain to look at a litany of crimes there revoking nationality of protesters right now there are they blaming the latest bombing on hezbollah as if it's hizbollah has any any connection with bahrain so no bill rajab he's going to have his appeal denied next week by the the all talk we see in bahrain so you know the euro is loved by rare they go down there for loads of money in their country formula one grand prix every year and loads of oil coming out of that country there's absolutely zero chance of any democratic reform in this country and this is a country that absolutely needs it washington and london have more or less given the big the go ahead for the bahraini roll family and that and that government that autocracy to really go hard and fast and drop the hammer down on any pro reform

movements and that's exactly what we've seen several high ranking russian officials were sucked out this week in the wake of corruption allegations that are shaking the country's military the defense minister his first deputy and joint chief of staff were forced out after the ministry was drawn into a scandal over allegedly selling assets at well below market value and it's not just their russia space industry is also including a corruption scandal a government backed government backed code is under way now into a company that's been developing russia's satellite navigation system called alone asked this after it was revealed that over two hundred million dollars were allegedly embezzled by management president putin and his predecessor dmitri medvedev have named countering corruption in russia as one of their main goals. well it looks like five months behind closed doors has taking a bit of a toll on julian assange it's feared that the whistleblowers

a tyranny of mental health is putting him in real jeopardy if we report on that for you on our website plus. the plane because the cia boss is job but is infidelity really what forced betray us out. and rolling with a stone a tough times for someone of mick jagger's for old friends from the sixty's to auction off the rock legends love letters all that for you and a lot more on our team. well china has launched its a once in a decade transfer of power earlier this week the communist party congress is now reviewing the list of candidates and is expected to announce the results in three days the incoming officials valid to tackle the growing challenges facing the world's largest second largest economy the i.m.f. meanwhile predicts that china could overtake by west and become number one in real terms by two thousand and sixteen beijing's promising to increase its influence across the globe by a link buying up ailing businesses in europe and building infrastructure in

pakistan all this while it's an absolute national resources in africa but it won't be able to get big as economic research when william angle explains. the corruption issue and that's a huge issue among the chinese population i've talked with students as recently as three weeks ago when i was in beijing. and i asked them what they considered the greatest weaknesses and the issues of progress and since among young people that the party leadership is not. in touch with the aspirations of the younger generation of the people generally in this this is a question of the very legitimacy of the party and that i think is huge child i'm sure they're going to have to address the chinese are very concerned about these so-called obama pivot the asian pivot which is really trying to pivot the obama announced earlier this year south trying to see. the provocations there with oil in the eastern part of that with the islands next to taiwan where the japanese

government made an extremely provocative move no doubt at the behest of washington to claim that those islands are japanese islands because private investors sold them to the japanese government now that those islands are a security necessity for the chinese in their long term defense as they see it and historically the chinese have. quite a strong right to claim those us as chinese territory so it's a very provocative kind of game that's going on between japan and australia and the chinese with the u.s. very much in the background. the u.s. election wasn't without some glitches with a few reports of voting irregularities and errors but as overseas polls which seem to be a bigger concern to americans as archie's honest answer churkin reports. you elected me to tell you the truth honesty is the best policy while maybe not in u.s. elections two words define why people hate america double standard on

everything in this presidential election season these two words are back in full swing the basic definition of a double standard is a rule or principle unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups let's find out if this is relevant to the us election system from questionable voter id regulations to shortened early voting time slots to gerrymandering rejoice in congressional district lines to favor certain party laws affecting voters' rights are passed left and right and vary state by state you have an error. this video shows how easy it is to attempt to steal attorney general eric holder's vote when an idea is not required actually forgot my id. yet places that do ask for a government issued photo id can affect over ten percent of americans that simply don't have one there is an attempt to prevent large numbers of people from actually exercising the ballot election monitors usually serve the purpose of keeping track

of and discrepancies and while the us likes to keep a close eye on the way elections are handled abroad even the carter center which grows a rod and does the great we're monitoring the elections. refuses to monitor us elections on the grounds. of basic standards of integrity when election ideals are not met elsewhere criticism runs rampant elections in venezuela elections in iran elections in russia. the press will go to town on any sign that the outcome was fixed and while nit picking abroad is all the rage the elephant in the room remains unnoticed at home policymakers and to a great extent our media and and trickle down to the american people have literally the literally think that the rest of the world is stupid. that they don't see it that everybody naturally house to admit you know admire us that we're great and that's not the case well obvious flaws are met with a deaf ear and here in and year out

a flawed election process continues to be the first vote cast in the u.s. and if those who target our party new york. feared for its effect of the praised for its reliability we've got the world we're known to kalashnikov rifle in our sights after the break. which is slow often enough and knows that to ride a horse you've got to catch it first. for him it's a daily routine that just soft as a horse breeder on the island of a horn at the heart of. his life on an isolated farm is about blue sky green

grass and she's horses weren't there sometimes it gets lonely here but the horses have become part of me now i've fallen off so many times sometimes they'd bite as well it's part of my everyday life. i holmes been home to ignore the rats locally just slough for centuries most still live off the land breeze cattle and fish. if my call is often called the pearl of siberia a horn is said to be the pearl of by call it's all end of think forests. and vast stops. virtually undiscovered by tourists until. some twenty years ago quickly becoming a magnet for nature lovers and. you're quite some way from civilization here accommodation on the island is very basic so you can forget about a t.v.

or even running water for most people a tent. but for those who come here it's exactly what they're looking for. and journeyed to by call can be a trip of a lifetime and the locals say once you've seen it they'll be coming back again and again. i am a professional. i always am true without firing a single realms full automatic. i know the fatigue you know. i take pride in my work but for one thing. the one who kills that

distinction belongs to the polls my tree. i am an assault rifle my name is. a group of elite soldiers from russia's interior ministry or amounts to start an exercise in the morning they line up information according to tradition they pay homage to past comrades who have died in the line of duty. this unit has taken part in many counterterrorist operations across russia. they have a variety of firearms at their disposal but their weapon of choice is still the. rightful to these men it's known simply as. never yet. that these soldiers will endure a course of special training.